HUMANE RELIGION

Humane Religion Magazinefrom Humane Religion

FROM THE PULPIT
November - December 1996 Issue

Not to hurt our humble brethren is our first duty to them, but to stop
there is not enough. We have a higher mission: to be of service to them
whenever they require it.

Clive Holland, at Westminster Abbey. ( 1987)

As Christians we believe that God gave us dominion over His Creation, but
we have used that authority, not to protect and safeguard the natural world,
but to destroy and pollute the environment. And even worse, we have deprived
animals of the dignity and respect which is due to all that has life.

From a Report commissioned by the Church of England, Board of
Social Responsibility. (1970)

We make animals work for us, carry us, amuse us and earn money for us. We
also make them die for us in ways which would be rejected if we could
readily see it done. In many fields, we use them not with gratitude and
compassion, but with thoughtlessness, arrogance and complete selfishness.

AN INVOCATION

Henry Primatt, D.D.

Let me intreat thee , O Christian reader, by all that
is good and kind and just; Let me intreat thee for Godís sake, for Christís
sake, for manís sake, for the sake of the animalsó Yea, and for thine own
sake.

Make it your business, esteem it your duty, believe it
to be the ground of your hope and know that it is that which the Lord doth
require of thee:ď to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy
God.Ē

See that no animal of any kind, whether entrusted to
thy care, or coming across thy path, suffer through thy neglect or abuse.

Let no hope of profit, no compliance with custom, and
no fear of the ridicule of the world, ever tempt thee to the least act of
cruelty or injustice to any creature whatsoever.

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